I’ll do a few links for you tonight as I wait for Meadowlands after watching one of the funniest episodes of Entourage.
Some more reviews for “The Bronx is Burning”. The Boston Herald has some high praise. The Seattle Times says it’s a home run. Richard Sandomir in the New York Times has a mostly positive review. Mike Tankersley of the Mobile Advertiser also likes the ESPN program. Neil Best in Newsday likes the book on which the mini-series is based more than the TV program. Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson is not happy with ESPN over the filming of the mini-series.
New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick has some pet peeves over some words and phrases that have been used by sportscasters.
Remember we linked to Neil Best’s story in his Newsday blog about ESPN being punished for breaking the All Star Game announcement embargo? Well, the Baseball Tonight studio gang will do doing its wrap-ups of the game from the Bristol, CT campus. Paul Gough of the Hollywood Reporter also has a write-up.
Curt Rallo of the South Bend Tribune says if the conflict between the Big Ten Network and Comcast isn’t resolved by August 1, then the conference will begin to urge fans to switch to DirecTV. This was done by the YES Network when it first launched five years ago and it was in a dispute with Cablevision. By Opening Day, the conflict was resolved, but I don’t think with Comcast victorious over the NFL Network, I can see Comcast holding out for a long time.
The Sports Media Watch blog says boredom is setting in at the Alleged Worldwide Leader with its new SportsCenter series, City by City.
Last night, this blog was among the first to discuss the Bill Maas arrest in East Peoria, IL. Here’s Cathy Bayer of the Peoria Journal Star with the story.
Frank Deford in SI.com says NBC is poorer for letting Bud Collins go. And I did see NBC’s tribute to Bud today. While well-produced, it simply wasn’t long enough to show him the proper respect.
Variety says ad buys for the NFL are about 75% sold out for this season. That’s good news for the TV partners.
Jeff Elliot in the Florida Times-Union says Fox and ESPN will battle it out for attention at this week’s All Star Game.
Despite being the San Francisco Giants announcer and ESPN’s lead play-by-play guy, Jon Miller is getting the night off for the All Star Game.
Karen Bailis says the MSG Network is saving money on WNBA telecasts by having the broadcast crew do road games from the MSG studios rather than travel with the New York Liberty.
That’s it for now. Until Monday.
